A MAJOR residential development in Bradford city centre was given the go-ahead by Councillors yesterday.

The car park in Grammar School Street, off North Parade, will now be built on to create 166 one and two bedroom apartments, along with retail and professional services, food and drink, and non-residential space on the ground floor, along with 21 basement parking spaces.

The representative for the applicants at the meeting said the site “represented a void in the urban fabric of the city for many years”, since the grammar school burned down in 1987.

An application was also made on the site ten years ago, which fell through because of the economic crash.

The issue of affordable housing in the development was raised by the chair of the Regulatory and Appeals Committee Councillor David Warburton.

He was told that if affordable housing was to be included in the plans the scheme would be “unviable”, as there is a negative land value so it “would not be right to give the requirement for affordable housing”.

The application was approved unanimously.

Before the item was heard by the committee, an application from Lib Dem Cllr Alun Griffiths to replace Cllr Michael Stelling on the alternates list with Cllr Brendan Stubbs was granted.